I have learned more about love, altruism and human understanding from the people I have met on this great adventure in the world of AIDS than I ever learned in the competitive and fierce world in which I have spent my life. (Anthony Perkins)
Anthony Perkins, American actor, best known for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and his Oscar-nominated role in Friendly Persuasion, was one of arguably the most interesting actors of the years 1950. Before he became famous in Hollywood, he was considered a good candidate for romantic leading roles, but that changed after he portrayed Norman Bates in Hitchcock’s blockbuster thriller Psycho. 1960, playing the role with such conviction that the character has defined his career for many years since. His performance as Norman Bates is ranked #4 on Premiere magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
In 1990, when a blood sample was taken due to paralysis on one side of his face, The National Enquirer, IMDb writes, illegally tested Perkins’ blood sample for the AIDS virus, finding it positive. Later that year, the National Enquirer wrote an article about the actor’s fight with AIDS, but, also according to media reports, the ironic part of things was that Anthony Perkins learned he was HIV-positive only from this article.
In 1984, Perkins was arrested at Heathrow Airport in London for possession of eight grams of marijuana and three doses of LSD, five years later he was arrested again, this time at the Angel Hotel in Cardiff, for illegally importing 1.3 grams of marijuana.
He didn’t have sex with a woman until he was 39 years old. He lost his virginity in 1971 – as stated by People magazine – with Victoria Principal, the actress from the series Dallas.
Anthony Perkins was nominated twice for the Tony Award, in 1958 for Best Actor (Drama) for Look Homeward, Angel, and in 1960 for Best Actor (Musical) for Greenwillow. He received 2 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for film and television.
Anthony Perkins was born on April 4, 1932, in Manhattan, New York City, to actor Osgood Perkins and Janet Esselstyn.
He was a descendant of Mayflower passengers John Howland, Myles Standish, and William Brewster, as well as colonist Roger Conant. On his father’s side, he was descended from John Perkins, who arrived in Boston from England in 1630 as part of the Puritan migration to New England.
Perkins made his film debut in The Actress (1953) while studying at Columbia University in New York, the following year he starred on Broadway as the sensitive teenager Tom Lee in Tea and Sympathy, for which in 1956 he received a nomination at the Oscar for the performance in the film Friendly Persuasion. For many years, Perkins was preferred in roles of “awkward” youths, being cast in films such as Fear Strikes Out (1957), The Tin Star (1957) and Desire Under the Elms (1958), before gaining notice at the international for Psycho.
He then appeared in several films in Europe, including The Trial (1963), The Champagne Murders (1968) and Ten Days Wonder (1972), and in American films such as Pretty Poison (1968), Catch-22 (1970), WUSA (1970), The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and Edge of Sanity (1989). His performance in Friendly Persuasion earned him a Golden Globe for Best New Actor and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, but his stardom came with his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) , which established him as a horror movie legend, reprising his role in Psycho II (1983), Psycho III (1986) and Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990).
Perkins’ personal life was dominated by sexuality. From his teenage years he developed romantic feelings for other boys, but did not openly express them due to the restrictive social norms of the time. After transferring to Rollins College, he began to really experiment with relationships with men, but the conservative atmosphere and expulsions of gay classmates created a climate of fear and terror, causing him to hide his sexual orientation for a long time and keep your personal life private.
After transferring to Columbia University, Perkins continued to be involved in theatrical activities while having the opportunity to interact with other artists who shared similar experiences. Although he underwent conversion therapy (a controversial and often considered pseudoscientific practice that aims to change a person’s sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual) and married Berry Berenson in 1973 (Berenson was the niece of Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, sister of actor/model Marisa Berenson), having two children together, hasn’t completely given up her previous relationships with men.
Anthony Perkins was diagnosed with HIV in 1990 and died on September 12, 1992, aged 62, of AIDS-related pneumonia. After his death, his contribution to cinema and the complexity of his personal life have been increasingly recognized.
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Source: www.descopera.ro
